Hong Kong seeks input on 20-year airport plan

Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) has released for public feedback a 20-year development blueprint for Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). The plan sees the airport either maintaining its existing two-runway system or committing to a third runway over a 15-year period between 2016 and 2030.

21st Jul 2011

Airports

Hong Kong seeks input on 20-year airport plan

Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) has released for public feedback a 20-year development blueprint for Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). The plan sees the airport either maintaining its existing two-runway system or committing to a third runway over a 15-year period between 2016 and 2030.

The public have until 2 September to respond to the Master Plan 2030, work on which started in July 2008. Nine independent consultants were commissioned to research different aspects of the airport’s development, resulting in the two options.

Option one would involve maintaining the current dual-runway system and making enhancements to the terminal and apron facilities to increase the airport’s capacity. The terminal would be expanded to over 650,000 square metres, a second midfield concourse would be constructed with 20 bridge-served passenger aircraft parking stands and 20 parking stands would be added for cargo flights in the midfield area.

This proposal would allow the airport to handle 68 flights per hour or a maximum of 420,000 aircraft movements per year, with annual passenger and cargo throughput increased to 74 million travellers and 6 million tonnes, respectively.

AAHK says this option would cost approximately HK$23.4 billion (US$3 billion), would increase the number of jobs at the airport to 101,000 by 2030 from 62,000 in 2008 and generate HK$432 billion in cash flow over 50-years to 2061.

However, maintaining the two-runway system would not support long-term growth at the airport, which would probably hit its maximum runway capacity around 2020, says AAHK.

By contrast, the option of adding a third runway could allow the airport to meet traffic demand possibly beyond 2030. This option would require the reclamation of about 650 hectares of land north of the existing airport island for the construction of the new runway, which would be dedicated to arrivals only.

About 36 stands for cargo flights would be added in the midfield area of the airport, while new passenger concourses with 58 aircraft parking stands would be constructed in the reclaimed area.

The third runway would allow the airport to handle up to 102 flights per hour, or 620,000 flights per year, and meet annual passenger and cargo throughput forecasts of about 97 million and 8.9 million tonnes by 2030, respectively.

This option would cost approximately HK$86.2 billion, increasing the number of direct jobs associated with the airport to 141,000 by 2030 and generate HK$912 billion in cash flow up to 2061.

“With Asia-Pacific, and in particular the mainland, increasingly driving global and regional economic growth, air-traffic demand has been experiencing strong growth in the past decade. This trend is expected to continue, and Hong Kong is well positioned to capture the opportunities it presents,” says AAHK chairman Dr Marvin Cheung Kin-tung.

“The question is how much of such opportunities HKIA is able to capture in the future. The current two-runway system is forecast to be saturated by around 2020, and beyond that, HKIA will not be able to meet additional demand. This could irrevocably harm Hong Kong’s position as a global aviation hub,” he adds.

The Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has voiced its support for the third runway, with Director General Andrew Herdman saying: “If Hong Kong is going to maintain its competitive edge and take further advantage of new growth opportunities, work on constructing a third runway at HKIA really needs to start quite soon, given the long lead times involved.”

[Byline:] – Emma Kelly.

Brief

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